Jump to content

Different Phenotypes of Marmorkrebs


Soothing Shrimp

Recommended Posts

Great find. The keyword is epigenetics. The gene activity is influenced by epigenetic regulation such as DNA methylation and histone modification (acetylation, methylation, etc.). It is harder to study than the primary DNA sequence but for the variations in the phenotype likely as important as variations caused by mutations. Epigenetics should be taken into account by breeders, because the epigenetic marks can change during the lifetime of an organism or in its offspring and are often influenced by the environment, such as food, substrates and water chemistry.

It is one explanation why some interesting variations in phenotypes are sometimes not heritable or disappear or weaken if we put shrimps from one tank into another, or from move them from one breeder to another.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, the (genetically identical) self cloning caryfish are an excellent system to study this variation.

I read some articles a while ago about coat color variation in genetically identical mice that was caused by epigenetic mechanisms.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...